Making sense of the world as it exists now — after the disaster -- requires more than just creating new plans for the new future. Those who have encountered life-altering experiences know all too well that it gets much darker before that dawn. Before we can make sense of the new reality, we first slide down the slippery slope of sense-losing where we are deeply confronted by what no longer works and is no longer true. To really grasp and effectively respond to a crisis we must understand what existed before the event, what sense and ways of being were lost, how people navigate the downward spiral, and what they leverage that allows them to make sense of their world again.